


Liar

by AndeliaMaddock



Series: Rigging the Odds [7]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Burning flesh, Death, Fire, Internal Conflict, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Punishment, Slaves, Torture, grim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 11:04:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10740429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndeliaMaddock/pseuds/AndeliaMaddock
Summary: This is the end.





	Liar

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry.

"Is Benny about through down there?" Knight stood tall, firm, despite the injuries on his body. Despite how he wore Legion armor.

Courier kept his eyes level with their eyes, didn't focus on the dried blood over them. "I think so. I figured, he can finish and we can make sure everything's just fine up here."

"Oh, I'm sure." Knight's toes curled in their thin leather boots, seemingly the only tell from a calm body that he felt the same tension Courier felt.

"I hope it's soon though. No way in Hell they're not going to notice."

Knight smiled, though he seemed pained at the motion. One hand went up, rubbed at desiccated lips. Through the ministrations of that rubbing hand, he murmured low. "I wonder how he did it. I must've fantasized about how to a thousand times."

Courier chuckled, and stepped closer, over the body of one of the fallen Legion. "Probably with his silencer. But hey, maybe he went and slit them, I know he took a nice long knife along with."

"I really wish he had waited." Knight removed his hand, and that smile was still there. It was a bit twisted though, matching what those eyes held. "I wanted to see it."

How did you reply to that? Courier closed that gap just a bit more, until he was only a foot or so from them. Despite the relative chill of the night, Knight didn't seem to react. Courier wore armor too, and he still felt that biting temperature, even inside the station.

Knight glanced down, followed the Courier's gaze evidently, and shuddered. "I don't think this armor will do me any good."

"Oh?"

"They know who I am. At least, most of those up on the hill do. I can't see them being stupid enough to fall for it for longer than a second."

"Maybe. But armor is armor when the shooting starts, right?"

"I don't want to wear it." That calm ripped so quickly. Like a magician with a fully laden tablecloth, Knight tore away his armor in a few slick motions and was left with nothing much under. That heaviness of his face and how he held himself remained though, despite the armor change.

Knight was nude, but for that scrap of cloth that did little to preserve modesty.

With how the lines curled and slashed across that worn body, Courier could imagine some of the things Knight had been up to.

He stepped just slightly closer, but he dug his boots into the flooring to keep from walking right into them and pulling them into a hug. That was probably not what Knight wanted.

Time was, maybe the Major would say this wasn't the time or place to be too 'friendly'. Time was, Knight wouldn't have that hard glint in his eye, that shone like the blade of a machete in the moonlit Legion camps.

Time was, Courier would have maybe known what to say. But instead, he looked into those eyes and tried to impart something even he didn't know.

Knight smiled, and it seemed softer. "Benny. He didn't come here just for me, did he? He came for that chip."

He wanted to lie. To look up slightly into that tired face and lie so sweetly. Tell them how Benny had wanted nothing more than to find him immediately when he left without so much as a hello.

"That's. That's what I thought. It's funny. I. I didn't even know the chip was his, not really. Not until I got caught and didn't find myself crucified." Knight suddenly did seem to feel the chill. Arms clutched at each other, and Knight looked away. As though even meeting their eyes was too cold. "Captivity does things. I came up with all these scenarios where it would all be fine. I protected him by not saying his name, and he would..."

He turned back towards the door. Shoulders, red and sliced as though they were, rolled back into a more stern posture. Knight adjusted himself back into a soldier's stance. 

Despite all the cuts, scars, and bruises on that nearly nude body, Courier could see they held themselves with pride. As though whatever happened hadn't been quite as bad as it could have been.

He laughed.

Knight inhaled, a short sharp intake of breath. One might mistake it for a hiss.

"Not you. Just. I got shot in the head, you know it?" He stepped up beside them. If they didn't want him looking directly on at them, he'd respect that. He'd stand guard, same as them. Same as the men who were dead on the floor behind them.

"I was aware of it, yes. You held up remarkably well."

"Yeah? Well, you too. I don't know what happened here. Maybe I shouldn't know. That's your call to decide what you say. But. You're alive. You're standing. You're plotting against them, same as us. That's something."

Knight's shoulders relaxed, ever so slightly. He smiled, softer than before. Sadder, too. "If we get out alive."

"Think maybe we could share a drink together?"

A glance over, an arched brow.

"Not like that--well, ok maybe like that, if you could stand the idea. But I meant, more as friends. Not 'friends', but--"

"I know what you mean, I think." Knight looked ahead once more. The smile widened. "When we get out of this, we should definitely be friends. We can share a drink or two."

There was none of that nonsense innuendo from before. Left out also was the absolute anxiety in the word 'friend' that had driven Courier to drink next to Cass in the bar and loudly contemplate why the ones he liked were always just a bit too scared to do anything. Or, they wanted to do it all, and he was the one who was too shy. Rarely did he find a middle ground.

A minute passed maybe, and Courier finally cut through the silence. "Benny was the one who shot me in the head."

A quick turn, gun at the ready. Eyes darted their gaze towards the stairs. "He what now?"

"I forgave him. I think. Mostly." Maybe it was a mistake saying it. Major Knight seemed like he'd run off and blow Benny's head clean. "I think he's not as bad as that one thing. I think he's better than that." He could hardly find his breath.

He was an idiot, wasn't he? Forgiving a guy like that. Leaving them alone in a bunker with a robot army that could wipe Knight and himself clean off the face of the planet too. 

But he did. It didn't even take all that long. That was his famous naivete at work. Even knowing what it was, he couldn't seem to help himself.

He also couldn't cut through that anxious cord that hung low in his belly.

"How did that happen? Did you not know it was him?"

"No. I knew. I had plenty of chances to 'make right' with a bullet in his head. But he had plenty of chances to get rid of me too. Every time I woke up. Every time I woke up, I thought, well, I'm not dead. There aren't any pits of fire or pearly gates, so I must've done something right trusting him. Even if he kept on trying to maybe run, he never got further than that first time."

Knight seemed to relax, he let his face go more calm in visage. "He seemed so nice with me. I wouldn't have thought he was like that. Or that you'd forgive."

Courier didn't look, he wouldn't look and see that face when the voice from within cracked just a little. 

"I knew he didn't come here for me. I knew maybe he wasn't the best, being a Chairman. I didn't figure him that type though." He sighed. "I guess you can't know a man after one night, can you?"

"I just spent a day talking to you, and I knew you were a good sort."

"How did you find me?"

Again, a lie begged to come out. But he pushed it away. It roared on back, and he conceded just a single point. "He wanted me to help him find you."

"The chip, you mean."

"Well. He took it from me to start with, so yeah."

"None of this makes any sense. Vulpes talks cleaner." He swallowed hard. Kept right exactly to his self-appointed post, but seemed to want to go anywhere but there. 

Courier felt a similar feeling to how he assumed Knight did. "It's a lot to take in. But that chip will turn things around. It'll help a lot of people."

"How?"

"I don't entirely know. Robots, or something. I just know, we're getting out of this. It'll be fine."

Eyes looked over, though Knight barely turned his head.

"I have to keep faith in that. It's the only thing that keeps me from curling into a ball some days."

"Funny. That about sums me up lately." A quiet laugh, and it hung low and bitter.

Courier couldn't help but return that tone. That laugh.

It was uneasy, but it finally dipped away into a quiet.

Courier didn't break the silence this time. That was the shouts. The door opened so hard he thought the rusty hinges might burst. Legion soldiers pushed into the room, guns and machetes at the ready, but no one quite shooting.

"Take them alive! They'll suffer for their sins against the Legion!"

Would those sins be just existing as not a soldier or a slave to the Legion? Or perhaps it was Benny's murder of their precious Caesar?

Courier didn't know or care much. He raised his gun and aimed a shot at the speaker.

If they wanted to take Courier and Knight alive, no thanks. He knew how well that worked. Besides, at least they stood a chance if they--

He could hear boots outside. Maybe a hundred, all tamping down the dirt. Maybe more, because who could really count by ear alone?

At least this was a nice hill they'd die on.

"And here, I thought you nearly broken."

He didn't take the shot, he focused instead on that voice he'd heard in Nipton. Every part of him screamed to take that shot, but he could only pay attention to them.

"And you. I remember that face now. How clever, using our own armor to break through our defenses."

Vulpes Inculta.

Courier wanted to pull the trigger, just as he had that day. He'd told them how repulsive they were, and expected them to force his hand.

They hadn't attacked, as though Courier weren't worth a single thought. Vulpes had just told him to go ahead and attack. That Legion wouldn't start it, but they could end the suffering he clearly felt. 

He felt a tinge of pain in his head, and wondered if it was really just a coincidence that his head hurt right in their presence. 

"No? You two both have guns, and yet neither fires? Interesting. It couldn't be that you're... afraid, could it? Terrified of just what death is coming? I'd expect cowards like you to attempt suicide by Legion. Yet, here you are. Waiting." He was just before them, no guns in hand, no machete at the ready. He seemed almost bored with the whole affair.

"I almost want to reward finally behaving in the face of death. But seeing as how." He grit his teeth, and forced out the next words after a moment of grinding pause. "Caesar is dead because of you. You'll get the deaths that befit mongrels such as yourself."

He couldn't understand why he wouldn't move.

Courier had shot deathclaws when he cleared out Quarry Junction. Sure, it had been with Boone and a pair of sniper rifles, but that wasn't the point. Deathclaws were something so much more frightening in their speed and aggression, right?

But they weren't as personal. They didn't attack for moral or militaristic reasons. They killed to protect territory, and for food.

Legion was personal and the opposite in one swoop. It was many. It could be anyone. But they picked fights, they swore allegiances, and they searched for those who had done them wrong. And this wasn't just any Legion man. It was one of the worst. It was the first one he ever met.

The very one he'd shakily told to report to Caesar's tent. The same one he'd almost been unable to speak in the presence of, but somehow he'd managed.

That resolve only extended for one conversation, it seemed. Here, exposed and surrounded, he couldn't find enough moisture in his desert throat to reply.

Vulpes sighed. "Tie them up. Take them before My... Before Caesar's tent. They will be punished."

He turned.

It would be so easy to at the very least kill him. Just, lift the gun a bit more. Pull that trigger that was so light and free to move. Just. Do. Something.

He could barely breath, yet here he stood breathing too much and too hard. The air was hot, and his vision held on a blur.

Arcade had said something about this. Panic attacks.

He had been sliced into by a young deathclaw and survived. He'd been shot twice in the head. He'd survived near about every trauma that could be thrown at a man. Yet here it was Panic that would lead to his death. A death by indecision.

He heard his gun clatter to the floor more than he felt it fall from his grip. 

Dimly, he was aware of Major Knight. How they struggled, seemed to break from their own trance. There was something bold in that, something he'd appreciate as long as he was conscious to do so.

Gunshot.

Loud, bullying at his senses. He blinked, and fell to his knees.

It wasn't a gunshot through him, he reasoned. It didn't feel like it at least.

No, Knight seemed to collapse too. Red spilled out along white flesh, and tainted the metal flooring further.

Then it was all dark.

He was still conscious. He could hear the sound of boots. He could smell blood and dust and the light scent of healing powder. He could feel hands on his body. Hands that rubbed and searched and tore at anything that he'd hidden away.

But he couldn't see. Maybe that was on account of the thick material over his head. That really had to be it. 

By the time they had him half up the hill, the Panic escaped. He was left enraged. He pulled so hard, his arm just about ripped from socket. Still, hands held at him. Hands punished him, in bruising crushes.

He screamed out. Something, no doubt, but he couldn't quite tell just what he said.

"I'm hardly a dog. Merely the master of two. Though, you'll be put down shortly enough."

Why did everything have to start moving at the right speed when he was already bound, already determined by others to die? Why did Panic leave him just as it was useless?

Think. They didn't know about Benny. He was still safe. He could. He could come back, sneak by. He could have the robots attack. He could do something.

But if not Benny, Courier and Knight, they could do something, right? They weren't trapped. They weren't stuck. Nothing was forever. He'd felt that same fear in the cemetery, and it had turned out alright.

"It's almost amusing. Here you are, exactly as I remember back in Nipton. You wanted so badly to attack, didn't you? Your hands shook with rage, and you held that little gun of yours like a security blanket a child totes. But you were too scared then and you're too scared now. You're weak. I'm surprised you even managed to make it here."

There was defiance, it spiked its way through the pain in his arm, and tore right up into his head. He jerked a bit, and called back, "Funny. For being so smart, you did exactly what I wanted."

He didn't even mean to say it. He scrambled for a follow-up, but it turned to dust.

"Come again?"

"If you... you hadn't followed them, despite having seen them before. Caesar might not be dead. You fell for it." Knight's voice was a reprieve. It stood out, firmly against Vulpes as well.

There were murmurs.

Then there was silence again, though it burned in intensity. Prickled right at Courier's skin.

"That isn't the case at all. Who among you would deny Caesar a demand of your presence?"

Someone else, someone close, called out. "Truly though? You'd seen this one before, and yet you fell for his ruse? You so easily were fooled by a fool?"

Vulpes again, his voice tight and close. "That isn't what happened."

"Perhaps you deserve the same punishment, Vulpes. For your incompetence."

"If it is decided I do, then so be it. But who was meant to guard Caesar as he slept? Who could it be, Lucius? And, originally, who was meant to keep this NCR dog around to learn his secrets? I don't believe it was me. I believe that was you. Lucius."

More words, soft, in the distance. The crowd seemed to have opinions. But none seemed confident enough to state them in a way they could be found out. It was a contrast to mere minutes before when they all screamed for the deaths of the prisoners.

Those opinions still seemed to favor punishing those who had allowed Caesar's death. Just, some quietly murmured that it might involve more than just Courier and Knight.

Courier decided he could work with those opinions. "Really, you're both as guilty as us."

"Shut up, Slave!"

"I'm hardly guilty of anything." Vulpes, though that tone was tighter. "These two are clearly only meaning to sow discord. They should be killed for what they've done."

"You had time to do things your way with the NCR one. It's my way now." A hand so near Courier's face clutched through the material and held at his chin. "Crucifixion. Something I would argue is too good for you two. No. I have something much more personal in mind." He shoved back at the Courier, and heavy boots plodded a bit away.

Personal was something that could be nice. A personal letter, received by Courier, could be wonderful. A personal time with someone you enjoyed, that was divine. But personal time with someone known for their torture methods?

Well hello, Panic.

Knight screamed first, such a similar call to the one he'd heard less than an hour before. Something Courier knew immediately as Knight's when he'd first heard it, though then only because he'd heard the words and the voice under it.

He resisted the bonds, tried to pull his one good arm free, but he found that between being tied at the elbow and wrist didn't lend itself to free movement. "What're you doing?" A fool's question.

"Don't worry. You'll feel it yourself soon enough." Vulpes at his ear, a whisper. "I wish you hadn't killed Caesar. For more reasons than just my allegiance to him. Legate Lanius will be far more extreme, you know."

Those words were so soft, he almost didn't hear their meaning through the screams. Through Lucius, no doubt, punishing Knight.

But he did. Even through Panic's presence, he did. 

"No matter. What's done is done. The West will fall." A hand at his back, and then Vulpes seemed to stand. "Lucius. Perhaps I should deal with that one? After all, he was mine. This one could use some tending to, I think."

"And you think to tell me what to do?"

"Well. By all means, torture him if you like, instead of the one with Caesar's blood directly on his hands."

"I shall punish the one responsible for his death."

Oh, good.

The most virtuous part of him said this was good. It would keep Knight from being tortured by the worst one. It would give Knight a break in the agony.

The Panic part of him wondered if he could be so upset at something his head literally finally gave up trying, and shut down. 

Neither part said anything. He just knelt, limply, and waited for it.

Something small sharp and metal cut through on his arms. Not a whip, not a belt, no. He wasn't being beaten. He was being sliced. Slowly.

Benny wasn't coming. He had barely been touched yet, and he knew it.

His throat was hoarse. That wasn't a surprise, really. He hadn't drank that water he'd been in for so many hours. He'd just wrinkled as it surrounded him, and he'd kept his mouth shut around the rebreather. Hours, he'd gone without water, despite being surrounded with it.

People called out for their punishment. Egged on their torment. Men cheered. Women even seemed to get in on the jeers. Slaves. They had to be, right? And yet, they called for the death of those who had potentially wanted to liberate.

That wasn't comprehensible. 

The way sharpness cut through leather straps in the armor, until his chest was bared, was almost worse than if it cut through flesh. It was more threatening. The promise of what would come. The whisper of how slow it would be. The caress of metal that almost broke through skin as well, swore it would soon enough.

Courier had never been good in these extended sorts of affairs. Even with Benny, tied up as he'd been before the shots, he'd wanted it to end.

Just kill him already. Just kill him. 

He hoped they distracted enough, from Benny and the robots. Benny had said something. This was a legacy. If one didn't make it out alive, the other needed to carry the torch, so to speak.

Fire burned at his chest, as tight and hot as a match. Maybe that's all it was. Certainly, it wasn't a flamer or the more frightening sibling, an incinerator. No, it was just a match, or maybe an old lighter.

Still, fear bubbled like flesh, and he twisted and pulled and screamed at the actions. 

Until it stopped.

There was something almost worse at the pause in acute pain. Something was more tainted in sensations when you could suddenly focus on the dullness of an overall ache, instead of the immediacy of constant contact.

"How did you kill Caesar?"

How did he kill Caesar? For a moment, he almost wondered if he had, and he'd just forgotten. A part of him wished he had, so he could give the right answer. 

"Hmm?" More fire, right there at a bared nipple. "Tell us. What did you do?"

Knight beside him called out low in a devastating cry. Whatever Vulpes did, it was worse at the moment.

People acted like it was a matter of morals, holding out during torture. People thought, oh, me, I'd never talk. I'm above that. I'd take the pain and stay tight lipped.

Maybe people other than him didn't think about it. Courier had before though. He'd always thought, he'd keep himself quiet. He could take pain.

He'd been shot twice in the head, damn it. And still, he'd just wanted to do his job.

What had Benny said? Wow, Jesus, Baby, you have a work ethic gone crazy.

"Do not make me ask again." The flame pressed against the opposite nipple.

"I shot him." He could hold out a bit longer. "Silenced... silenced pistol." Everything would go up in flames, ashes to ashes, right?

"Really? Where is it? It wasn't on you."

"It." He blinked, but it didn't help. There was only blackness and the occasional blossoms of heated light behind his eyes anyway. 

"It?" Lucius held the heat up towards their neck. "I could light this bag, and you would still likely live. But I don't recommend testing that."

"I dumped it."

"I don't believe you. And since that dog didn't do it, someone else must be here. Someone else killed our Caesar."

Knight howled, and seemed to flail a bit. "I won't say! You won't know. He's already gone. He left."

Courier could almost believe that. He'd thought it enough. But something kept holding out. Something kept right on whispering to give Benny the benefit of trust. Even if Benny kept on squandering it with nighttime walks that went unpunished.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me repeatedly, shame on me, right?

He felt that heat pull his mind forward, to focus on Lucius. "I won't say."

Holding out during torture wasn't a moral thing though. It wasn't even a thing of strength, he was pretty sure.

It was a matter of time before he sang like an Aces performer. 

A thud landed beside him. Seemed large. Probably, it was Knight.

"Talk. I assure you, you've yet to see my truly angry side. But you will." Vulpes.

Lucius was likely the more terrifying torturer. But something about Vulpes' voice left him almost thankful he got the one he'd gotten. He didn't know if he could buy Benny enough time to save them if Vulpes was the one at his ear, letting him in on all the ways they would be tortured, instead of just getting to it like Lucius.

He laughed. He didn't mean to. 

He was comparing them like one might a new gun they hoped to purchase. Oh, well, a Gun Runner's gun was higher quality sure, but with that expense it's honestly not the kind of purchase you want to make when it'll still break down and require repair eventually. Besides, who can afford it?

"Something funny, Profligate?"

He fell forward, slammed his head without the cushioning of palms to block the fall. Arms cracked behind him, with how a boot stomped at his tied arms.

"I don't know." He didn't.

He hadn't slept, really slept, in so long. He was so tired, he'd nearly convinced himself to just tie the rope a bit more securely around him while the barge pulled him, and take a nap there. Underwater.

"Who is the third?"

"I won't tell." For the moment. Benny was on his lips though, mouthed as a defiance to who even knew, since no one could see it anyway. 

Vulpes said something, and half of it was lost to the fog in Courier's head.

"... it wouldn't be your friend, would it? Pacer, wasn't it? That thug I shouldn't expect a pretty NCR man like yourself to be interested in."

Knight huffed. "I won't say."

"Oh, come now. I know your tells. The way you froze then, it's all I need to know."

"You have a name?" Lucius called over to Vulpes.

"Pacer, I believe."

"It is, or it isn't."

"It is. Pacer. He must have come to get that chip this NCR reject misplaced."

Moments passed. 

Courier was fairly certain Pacer had literally nothing to do with knowing anything about the chip. Knight, sure, he'd tracked the guy down. But Benny hadn't mentioned Pacer in anything else.

Or was Knight better at withstanding torture and feeding false info than even a frumentarii?

It hurt too much to consider. It literally hurt, like someone took a knife and pushed it in past the plate Arcade and Julie had placed. Like they wanted to slowly scoop out his brain, and leave him with nothing but a shell, thoughtless and nothing.

If he got out of this, he'd go to Jacobstown. He'd go there immediately. He'd be fixed. It would all be ok. Everything was fine.

Benny would not betray them. Benny would not betray them.

"Where is the chip?" Lucius said, ever so slowly. Uncharacteristically slow, from what Courier could tell.

"Caesar had it. One of them must have taken it, used it, and tried to escape..." Another slow wash of words, from Vulpes this time.

Moments passed still.

Despite all the pain in his head, he had too many thoughts swimming around in there. He didn't know how much time went, he couldn't even try to gauge it.

"Go check the bunker, now! Pacer, or whoever it is, is down there." Lucius' voice was too loud beside Courier's head.

"Bring enough men. If that rumble meant anything, whatever comes up may be quite formidable." Vulpes, chiming in with the reasonable things.

He wouldn't say that if the robots were ready they could vaporize any enemy soldiers. He didn't bother to say a word. He just lay there, feeling the pain in such a deep way. Enjoying it, really, compared to what no doubt would come.

Those were not boots he heard on the dirt. Those were not Legion soldier voices. It was metal, thick heavy metal, that stomped. It was electric rumbles of voices. 

"Prepare for death."

He'd heard voices like that, more times than he was comfortable with. 

It probably wasn't meant to be about him, but he still found himself preparing. He always liked to be prepared for anything he could.

"Take your best shot. Then we'll take ours."

It was a new line. He could appreciate that. Maybe the chip upgraded their programmed dialogues? Or, more likely, he'd never given a securitron reason to say it. 

Legion, to their benefit, did seem to take their best shot. Guns fired, with real bullets instead of laser or plasma. Metal clanged on metal, from soldiers who pushed forward and attacked the robots with machetes, or those who threw their knives from a more reasonable distance.

The robots took theirs as well. Familiar sounds. Deadly sounds. Burned flesh permeated through the air, and even breached through the bag on his head. It nauseated. 

He shook his head about, and did his best to get the bag off. Did his best to see the situation.

It took some doing, but he managed. Bag loosened, it flopped off before him.

There were too many things going on to focus on. So he worked to stand up, despite the shake in his legs. 

Knight was so close, closer than the muffled noises he'd heard through the material had let on.

"Knight!" A hiss, something he hoped could call through the rumble of battle. He fumbled over to them, knelt and tried to nudge the bag off their head. "Come on. You can get up."

"My knee."

Oh. Blood. Blood that pooled onto the dirt, still bleeding.

"No wonder you screamed louder." He finally managed to get the bag off with another few pushes of shoulder.

A harsh snort of laughter. Knight looked up. Blood dried to lips, and bruises formed where there hadn't been some before. Apparently, Vulpes and Lucius hadn't been so kind to where the bag covered in the Major.

"I'll help, I--"

"Prepare to die," and as though pasted in with another clip of voice, it continued, "Legion Dog."

He turned. He barely saw the flash of light, there in his peripheral.

It burned, red hot against his head. Seared at the metal in his head. Cooked him, he felt like. But he still stood there. He still managed to stay upright.

Someone tackled him. Someone called out, told him to stop struggling. 

He couldn't really say he even realized he was struggling. Maybe they weren't talking to him.

"Damn it, Baby!" Harsh calls at his head. "You let me undress you before. Now isn't the time to be shy!"

Baby.

Benny.

Robots.

Benny.

He stilled, and turned his head just enough to see them above him. Smoke rose from their suit, but they didn't move off of him.

"Please," another pasted voice, "Benny. Remove yourself from the, Legion Dog."

"He ain't Legion, you rusted bag of bolts! Find another target! There's plenty!" Those quick fingers, that had done such nice things a few days before, worked to tear his skirt off now. 

"I will not request again. Remove yourself from the, Legion Dog, Benny. Or you shall be shot again."

"Goddamn Yes-Man couldn't make them smart." He finished, triumphant, and tossed the skirt away. "No Legion Dog here!" He rolled off of them, and gestured at the Courier.

"Understood. Seeking target." It turned, and rolled towards a group of Legion that attacked a few lone securitrons.

"It took you long enough." Knight coughed hard, then grinned with bloody teeth. "I'd almost given up hope."

Benny gave them both a slightly uneasy smile. He pulled out a bloody knife, and began to cut at Courier's binds first. "We're blowing this popsicle stand, you dig?"

"What about the slaves?" He was almost surprised by the question himself, to match the look on Benny's face.

"You're kidding, right?" Finished with Courier, he moved to slice away Knight's binds. For the second time that night.

"You said--"

"Look. These bots won't kill anyone who isn't dressed like Legion, right now at least. So if the slaves are wearings rags, they're golden."

"Then we bring them with." Knight couldn't stand well, but he did his damnedest with Courier's help. 

They lifted up one another, supported each other.

A whistle, and Benny shook his head. "Babies. Sweeties."

"Benny."

"Fine. Any that we can, we bring with. It'll be more targets on the ship, but whatever." He turned, and lead onward. "We can get you both fixed up there. But we don't have time right now. Just hurry, alright?" He limped, just a bit. There were singed marks on his back, along the suit.

"The robot hit you?" Courier followed after, slower with Knight slung next to him and needing so much support.

"It's fine."

"You could have let it kill me."

"We don't have time for pillow talk, alright?" Benny didn't even look. That limp sped up. "I wasn't about to let either of you die."

Courier felt Knight relax a bit, though it didn't stop them from walking as fast as the three working legs between them could go.

"Thanks." Courier finally said.

"Whatever. Don't mention it. I mean it."

Knight chuckled. The chuckle broke.

Gun to his head, arm about his neck, Knight was pulled from Courier's supporting arm.

"Did you think you could just walk away?" Vulpes stood, bloody and with singes on their armor and smoky grit on their face. "Did you think you could just--"

Knight grunted, then braced himself and flipped Vulpes forward over one shoulder. 

For a second, there was just the barest hint of absolute shock on Vulpes' bloody face.

Then Major Knight, of the NCR, brought a punch down into their jaw. "I think a lot more than you ever knew." One hand caught at that gun, and the other helped Knight steady himself despite everything around.

Everything was so loud here, but most of all, that gunshot was deafening.

Courier blinked. It was over. Knight kept that gun in his left hand, and wrapped himself as best as he could about Courier's shoulder with the other.

Legion drew things out. Gave 'lessons'. Taught the world about pain and punishment and how you were nothing but worms, as far as Courier could tell. They made you see your death coming long before it did, often enough.

NCR just got things done, or did their best to do it. 

He wouldn't say he had hoped Knight would have extended it. He had hoped that, but it all fell into place anyway didn't it? Better get it over with, rip that bandage free, than let it sit and fester how the Legion did.

None of it was ok. 

Legion maybe was the target, but slaves fought for their lives all around them. They fell too. Crumpled dead versions of who they were even an hour before.

Courier wanted to fix this, make it all better.

They kept on, crept forward, looked out for one another. Benny at the forefront, Courier and Knight bound together behind.

They did call out to slaves. Tell them to go on and come with them. They did as well as they could.

But it turned out, the majority would rather die. Was it just how they'd been raised? Just how it had to go?

He didn't realize how desperate his calls got to try and bring some of them with.

Knight squeezed at him. "Some of them, they can't be helped. If you'd have waited a month, that might've been me too."

That hit like the laser had on his plate. Burned away something he couldn't quite place.

He didn't call out anymore.

There were fights around him, but no one tried to stop them anymore. Everyone was far too concerned with the battle that roared on up above, at the hill.

That would not be the hill he died on.

They all made it onto the barge. Slaves panicked about their collars finally, as Benny pushed their barge off from the shore with the help of a few others.

"But if we get too far away--" One plead, to no one in particular. To anyone who could help them now.

"Come here." Knight worked those fingers. 

It was like magic. Magic, to undo slavery, fix it. Give them a chance in the world.

One after another, the slaves tossed their collars into the water that surrounded their ship.

Another barge moved beside theirs. It dipped a bit lower into the water, filled as it was with people as well. Moreso filled, even, than theirs was. 

More slaves. People who just wanted a chance. People who weren't too far gone to be saved.

Courier knew a bit about explosives too. And there were so many, and there was so little time before the Legion fell back down here and tried to kill them all off. He'd never tried to open a slave collar before. 

He moved from their barge to the other, with careful movements and help from two women in the other ship. Situated, Courier worked at a young woman's collar. She had the biggest eyes, like blue moons in front of him. She pleaded wordlessly. To fix it, or to end it.

Boone had mentioned mercy killings before. How sometimes that was the best option. That he'd killed Carla for it, rather than let his woman and his baby suffer at the hands of the Legion.

But this woman wanted to live, and Courier could help that.

Carefully, he twisted the right wire and cut it free. The collar remained stable, and did not blow up.

She hugged him tight, so tight it hurt against the pain of his body. But he didn't have the heart to say a word, nor let out even a soft cry.

Another moved up against him, begged with words this time for him to help.

Fire roared in the desert above them, liquid dark smoke curled and spread in the camp on the hill, black against the coming sunrise.

Somewhere even further in the distance was the Dam everyone had fought so hard for years before, and spent all their time in attrition battles since.

He caught Knight looking towards the camp, and towards the Dam.

"We're gone, you know." Courier tossed another collar into the river. "We're gone. We don't have to go back there."

"They won't keep me." Major Knight leaned back. "I'm crippled, by the time I get a Stimpak. The NCR will retire me. I'm only 30." He curved his lips, a facsimile of a smile. A laugh breathed out, and fell into the water around them, shaky as Knight's leg was.

"It'll be ok." He looked to Benny. "Tell him, Benny."

"What do you want me to say?"

Courier continued on his own. "It'll all be alright. The Legion will fall. New Vegas will be safe, and free. We'll work out a nice deal with the NCR, so everyone's happy. You'll be free to be who you are, not who NCR wants you to be."

Knight looked across to Courier's barge. "All the slaves here, in these barges, are just the first of many that will be free. You'll all go on to live happier lives. Legion will not cross the river again. NCR and New Vegas will work together. It'll be an alliance like none before. There will be good food and clean water for everyone, real soon."

"We'll all be happy." Courier looked to Benny. 

Benny looked as though he was searching for a smoke. Finally, he stilled his hands and looked up to the moon. He smiled, soft and contemplative. "I like it. That's storybook."

**Author's Note:**

> I probably cried for five minutes writing the ending.
> 
> The ending finally came about after I was inspired by one of the best pieces in television history, the ending of Lie To Me, from Buffy. I tried to evoke that feeling I first felt when I was about 8 and seeing that, while maintaining my own vision of how things might actually go in this universe.
> 
> Maybe they're lying, maybe they're not. But that wasn't this story. This story was them getting away barely alive, definitely broken in lots of places. What they do from there is up to you.
> 
> Please comment if you can find it in you, and let me know how that ending fared.
> 
> I am still taking prompts of course, so if you've got any for me that aren't mean to be set in this series (which is over) then I'll give them a gander.


End file.
